Post-Rupture
by Katkee
Summary: *major spoilers for 2.20* Zoom's back. Particle accelerator 2.0 went boom. Even the hazy sort of back-to-normal normal they've achieved has been destroyed—ruptured, really, into thousands of tiny fragments. What's the S.T.A.R. Labs team supposed to do now? This. An alternate season ending, diverges after 2.20 "Rupture".
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Guess who's back with another potential season ending?_

 _Yup. That's right. It's me._

 _If you liked my story After Zoom, or if you've never heard of it and you're just panicking because BARRY'S DEAD, OR IS HE, AND WALLY AND JESSE ARE METAS NOW MAYBE, welcome. I have no idea what I'm doing yet but this'll be a fun ride._

* * *

Rupture.

It's classifiably ironic sometimes, the meta names. Trickster when they were all learning that the man they'd known as Harrison Wells was tricking them. Peek-A-Boo when a drunk Caitlin had questioned Barry about peeking.

Rupture.

Now that everything they've trusted, everything they thought they knew, has been broken. Maybe beyond repair.

Zoom doesn't even bother to spend time gloating. He's gone. Probably off to torment Caitlin some more.

Leaving the team to process, slowly, painfully, what just happened.

Barry's gone.

Cisco stumbles down to the base of the machine, reaching for the fragments of Barry's suit.

"I loved that suit," he murmurs, the words choked out around sobs. He doesn't know how to cope with this, outside of humor.

Iris crouches beside him and pulls him away from the wreckage. "We shouldn't look… we should go."

She has no idea where she means. But she can't stay in this room. Not now. And Cisco shouldn't either. The two of them get to their feet and leave, walking as fast as possible, out of there.

The three men—"all three of you care about me, in your own way"—are left alone, staring blankly ahead at the failure they've created, they've allowed.

Henry is the first to recover even a bit of his mental processing power.

"This is your fault." He's said it already, but he repeats it anyway, and now his grief turns shockingly into anger and he turns on Wells with a passion. "If you hadn't—" He takes a step forward, grips Wells by the shoulder, spins him around. "You killed him."

Wells can't defend himself, doesn't have the words, can't even muster the will to duck when Henry aims a punch at his face.

The blow lands, and Wells staggers into the wall. Still does nothing to defend himself when Henry moves at him again.

Joe rushes in between them and shoves Henry away from Wells. "Hey! Stop it!"

"He killed my son!"

Joe has no idea how to respond, he almost says "mine too", in a sudden surge of grief _really_ wants to hurt Wells just as much, but then—

Iris screams from upstairs.

"Iris!" Joe shouts. He throws a frantic glance at Henry, then Wells, and then runs from the room.

Henry grits his teeth, doesn't look at Wells, and follows.

Gathering himself, Wells is only a few steps behind. Jesse. He has to make sure she's all right. Not that anything could have happened. She was in the time vault.

Nothing else could have gone so catastrophically wrong in so short a time.

Upstairs, Cisco is already racing around the Cortex, gathering various devices and monitors. He thinks solely about Jesse and Wally. No time to focus on anything else. Not when they're in danger. No. He's not going to consider _anything_ else.

"Wally," Joe whispers brokenly. He sinks to the floor next to Iris, who's already holding Wally's hand. "He's not dead. He can't be dead."

"They both have a pulse," Cisco says before Iris can even open her mouth to say anything. He returns to the floor in between Wally and Jesse, arms full of metal objects. A few clatter to the floor and he ignores them, no time, he's got to start working if he's going to save them. Caitlin would be better but she's not here, he can't think about that—

"Jesse."

Joe and Wells have never gotten along well, but when Wells says his daughter's name, it's exactly the same way that Joe said his son's.

"How could this happen? I thought they were safe!" Henry can't process this. Not now. Not with everything else that has just happened, it's all too fast, too many cataclysms in so short a time.

"Cisco, what can you do?" Wells demands, completely ignoring Henry's question.

"We should move them to the beds," Iris says. She stands, swaying a little, and hurries into Caitlin's med bay.

Cisco is already attaching vital monitors, the kind adapted for Barry and Ronnie and other metas, to the two unconscious bodies. "Um. I don't know. I don't know anything. I can do what we did with Barry, but that's all I can promise. Without—" Without who, without Caitlin? Without evil Dr. Wells?

He's acutely aware that he's now the only remaining member of the original Team Flash.

Iris returns, wheeling a bed with each hand, good luck that they put them on wheels, terrible luck that they need them.

Joe lifts his son. Wells lifts his daughter. They place them in the beds.

As they look up, they make eye contact.

Joe, who had only a minute ago wanted nothing more than to blame Wells for everything, tear him apart, can't find that anger anywhere within him.

Wells, who had only a minute ago been unable to feel anything but simple shock, finds tears rolling uncontrollably down his face.

Henry, at the entrance to the room, can't find anger, does find tears. He knows, more than anyone else could, what they're going through.

The rupture that's cracked S.T.A.R. Labs apart shears just a little more damage into their lives, expanding the slightest bit.

Then ceases its growth.

The break is still there. Doesn't heal. Can't begin to.

But, with one meta gone and two more comatose, the fragmentation has already occurred.

Post-rupture, S.T.A.R. Labs takes a collective breath.

Time to fix this new breach.


	2. Chapter 2

"You know, these handcuffs are really uncomfortable," Caitlin says the next time Zoom comes rushing in.

Jay takes off the mask. He's smiling.

Caitlin stills. That can't be a good sign.

"There's news, Cait." He's _cheerful._

"Don't call me Cait," Caitlin mutters, unable to muster real anger through the sudden pounding of her heart, terror in her chest. What's happened? Why does Jay look like that—what is it?

… _glee_.

He's gleeful.

"Your friends at S.T.A.R. Labs tried to engineer another particle accelerator explosion to give Barry his powers back."

"And it didn't work?" Caitlin hedges.

Jay's suddenly crouching beside her and speaking in his terrifyingly sincere way. "I want you to know that this isn't my fault. It was completely their decision. I had nothing to do with it."

Her hands are shaking, and she clenches them into fists so they'll stop. "With what?"

Jay snickers through that maniacally happy grin of his. "Barry's dead."

Caitlin's heart drops. "No. If you truly care about me, don't lie to me. Don't do this, Jay."

"It's not a lie."

And he's so deliberately _sincere_ that Caitlin knows he means it.

Before she even fully grasps what it means, tears start down her face, and she's full-on sobbing in moments.

"I'm sorry for your loss." _Again_ , Jay sounds so sincere. "Not theirs," he amends, "but yours."

"Go," Caitlin whispers through her tears. "Leave me alone. Terrorize the city if you want. Gloat. Just… just don't kill anyone. Please."

Jay's gone before she even finishes the last syllable.

Alone in the abandoned police station, Caitlin cries.

* * *

Wells tries hard to stop himself.

But he can't bear to be with Jesse when her fate is still so uncertain, can't be like Joe and Iris and Henry and just sit by the two beds and wait.

He's never ever ever been good at waiting and he hates it he hates not being able to do anything so he can't stop himself when the urge arises.

He goes back down to the shattered remains of the second particle accelerator.

Why, he has no idea; this was his biggest failure since—since what, since betraying Barry? No no no, his biggest failure _ever_ , because then at least it was intentional, unlike this cataclysmic proof of his incompetence.

So why return to it? Why torment himself like this?

He collapses to his knees beside the scraps of Barry's suit and brushes a hand over one.

He doesn't know what he did wrong. All the calculations, checked, rechecked, he even ran a confirmation through WolframAlpha, which Earth-2 never had, explains why Earth-2 inhabitants are smarter than Earth-1's, doesn't matter, didn't work, something was wrong, he missed it, his fault.

All his fault.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, to nothing, to the air, to who-knows-what, Barry's spirit?

"I'm sorry," he repeats. "I thought it would work, I swear. I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't certain. I was sure, I was _so_ sure…"

Nothing he says makes any difference.

Barry's _dead_.

Definitively—maybe—maybe not? On some Earth, maybe there's a chance. Some miracle of speed force could bring him back. There's no body, after all. Stranger things have happened in Central City.

Maybe that's why Wells came down here. Maybe that's why he's talking to thin air.

Maybe he hopes there's still a chance.

* * *

Jay takes Caitlin's advice.

It's, quite literally, a whole new world out there, after all. There's a new city that's terrified of him.

 _And_ the Flash is dead.

He won't kill anyone, no. Caitlin would hear about it and he doesn't want her any more upset than she already is.

But that doesn't mean he can't threaten.

There's Gold City Bank. Robbery was never quite Zoom's style, but he can't resist the opportunity to lord the Flash's death over everyone.

He enters the bank and people scatter across the lobby. The tellers are terrified and the customers cower. Good. They're learning.

"What do you want?" one brave soul asks from near the counter.

"I have news." He knows this'll be on every TV station within an hour; he looks directly at the security camera before continuing. "The Flash is dead. Nobody will be coming to save you."

In an instant, he's got that one brave soul pressed against the wall, a foot off the ground, his hand on the man's throat.

"This city belongs to me."

He releases the man, letting him crumple to the floor, and turns to intimidate a trio of girls across the room, when a voice rings out behind him.

"You're lying."

Jay turns back. Not pleased.

The man is barely on his feet again, but he's glaring. Defiant.

"The Flash has never failed us before. He's not dead. He'll stop you."

Zoom again slams him to the wall, but a _second_ voice pipes up behind him.

One of the three girls, who only moments ago was trembling against the wall, says, "The Flash isn't dead. He might be in trouble right now but he'll come back. He'll save us all."

"Your hero is worthless," Zoom growls, again releasing the man and turning on the girls. "I own this city now and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me."

A new voice intrudes from the door. "Yeah. I wouldn't be so sure about that, Zoom."

Jay glances over his shoulder to see a man wearing a thick black parka and blue goggles, a huge gun slung over his shoulder.

"Who are you?" he asks this new poseur, adding a slight laugh at the ridiculousness of his getup.

"The name's Cold. You can call me _Captain_. And I think you're robbing my bank."

* * *

S.T.A.R. Labs is achingly quiet, the only noises the beep of heart rate monitors and Cisco's continual, frantic movement around the lab.

He won't allow himself to slow down. There has to be something that can be done to save Wally and Jesse. There will be a solution. Something that doesn't require waiting nine months for them to wake up.

He runs around and doesn't stop, can't stop, if he stops he'll start to think about what just happened and he's not going to do that.

Cisco can't imagine what they might be like when they wake up—if—

He can't stand to consider _if_ so goes back to when. When they wake up. They might be different. They might be metas.

Not the point, Cisco, he tells himself.

He just has to wake them up.

He ignores Joe, Iris, Henry, as he whirls about the lab, connecting wires and tightening screws. They're all staring blankly at the two comatose bodies. They say nothing. He has no idea where Wells is. Can't spare the mental effort to consider it.

One test after another. What would Caitlin do? What would evil Wells do?

He's running out of ideas and out of breath and maybe if he were vibing something he'd have some sort of insight but he's too scared that he'll see Barry and he can't go through that.

In his frantic, frenzied, panic, he bumps against Wally's bed and knocks it about six inches closer to Jesse's.

Everything seems to freeze for a moment.

Wally's and Jesse's arms have both been hanging off the sides of their respective beds.

When they shift closer together, their hands meet.

A single yellow burst of electricity sparks between them.

Everything resumes.

And both of their eyes fly open.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: I haven't actually seen Legends of Tomorrow yet (don't judge, I'm waiting until I catch up on Arrow), so please be forgiving of my complete ignorance of canon when it comes to Captain Cold. I _think_ it's fine but if not we'll pretend it's _time travel shh…_

* * *

It's amazing how fast the bank clears out when there are _two_ supervillains in the building. Even those who dared to stand up to Zoom a few minutes ago aren't going to face Captain Cold. In seconds, Zoom and Snart have the bank all to themselves.

"Captain Cold?" Zoom sneers beneath his mask. "I've heard of you. You haven't even got powers, just a gun. And _your bank?_ "

"And all you've got is a little speed and an overinflated ego." Snart levels the gun at him. "Yes. My bank. I robbed it first."

"Get with the times, Cold. This is my city."

"Yeah. Saw your little announcement on the news." Snart rolls his eyes behind the masking goggles. "Unfortunately for you, I happen to like this city. And I don't appreciate you barging in here to lay claim to it."

"I could kill you in a moment," Zoom returns.

"But you haven't yet. Which means you're like all the rest of us. You've got a weakness." Snart fires three times, in three different directions. Zoom dodges the first easily, the second a little less so, but Snart, with his experience fighting speedsters, has aimed accurately, backing Zoom into a corner.

So the third shot hits Zoom, curling glaciers around his chest and arms, securing him to the wall behind.

"And if you've got a weakness, I can beat you."

Zoom starts to vibrate, melting away the ice, so Snart hits him a couple more times.

"Zoom, isn't it?" Snart smirks. "Where's the Flash? I better break the news to him that I beat you. I'm sure he'll be so disappointed."

"He's dead," Zoom rasps out. His vibration speed increases and then he's through the ice, ripping Snart's gun from his hands and bashing it against the wall, and then presses Snart to the wall as well, strangling him.

Snart, with no other resort, pushes the _Flash is dead_ fact to the back of his mind and _gambles_. "What's her name?" The words come out choked, but Zoom understands—the hand against his throat loosens the slightest bit.

"The reason," he continues, gasping, "that you won't kill. A girl, right? Just a guess. But I'm sure she won't approve when she hears the news."

Zoom releases his grip, but keeps Snart shoved against the wall. "You're lucky," he growls, "that one incompetent hero's death is enough for today."

He's gone. Snart collects the scattered pieces of his gun and considers the empty bank.

He sighs and throws open the door. "Looks like it's about time to pay a visit to S.T.A.R. Labs."

* * *

They're awake.

For Joe, momentarily, Zoom doesn't matter, Caitlin doesn't matter, even Barry fades from his mind.

All that matters is that his son is awake.

Wells rushes back into the lab and immediately hugs Jesse. His concern, fear, joy, manifests itself in a fountain of words rather than Joe's reverent silence. "Are you all right? Why were you out of the time vault? How did you get out? What happened? How do you feel?"

"Dad, calm down," Jesse says, smiling. She pulls away from the hug. "I feel fine. Wally and I were sick of waiting for something to happen, so we hot-wired the door and left. Then…" Her expression clouds. "I'm not quite sure. All I remember is some sort of golden haze coming at us. What happened? Did Barry get his powers back?"

Wally pulls back from Joe's hug. "Barry? Powers?"

Jesse claps a hand over her mouth and speaks through her fingers. "I wasn't supposed to say anything, was I?"

"It's not like it matters now," Cisco contributes from across the room. He winces as the words leave his mouth—they came out unintentionally harsh.

"Barry's the Flash?" Wally looks at Joe.

"He _was_ the Flash," Jesse says. "Then he gave up his speed—"

"To save me."

"—and Dad had a plan." Jesse smiles at Wells, her face open and trusting. "Is he out there stopping Zoom right now?"

Her smile fades as she takes in the expressions on everyone's faces.

"Tell her, Wells." Henry doesn't usually speak this coldly, but he thinks he deserves this one moment of anger. "Tell your daughter what you did to my son."

Wells grits his teeth, steps back a little from Jesse's bed. The way Henry has phrased it, it's impossible to explain without assuming the blame. And he deserves the blame.

But Jesse will never forgive him.

"I…" They're looking at him, both of them, Jesse and Wally, confused, concerned. He takes a breath, glances beyond them to Henry's crossed arms and Iris's tearful eyes. He cuts all emotion out of his tone. Science voice. Just the facts. "I theorized that Barry would regain his powers if we replicated the conditions under which he first acquired them. Barry agreed. We…" He hesitates, dives into honesty. " _I_ rebuilt the particle accelerator. Ramon summoned a lightning bolt."

"Don't implicate me in this!" Cisco says immediately. "I was just doing what you said."

"I know!" Wells snaps. "I know. When the lightning struck, and the particles destabilized…"

Despite forcing Wells's confession, Henry realizes that he can't listen to this. He walks away, out of earshot. Iris follows him, and the two of them fall into a hug, no words to express what they both are feeling.

Wells pauses before finishing. "Barry… exploded. Disintegrated. We don't know exactly what happened. But I'm so sorry." He's not sure who he's talking to. Jesse. Joe. Cisco. Barry himself. All of them, more likely.

Wally and Jesse exchange horrified glances. Wells turns away, starts to walk off, give them time to process, let them blame him, doesn't matter.

"Dad, wait!" Jesse calls after him. There's a rustling sound, the motion of the bedsheets, and she instantly _flashes_ in front of him.

Everyone freezes, watching her. Nobody looks more surprised than Jesse herself. "What…"

Wally stands up and tries to mimic Jesse's speed. He too flashes across the room, stopping right next to Iris and Henry.

"Wow," he manages.

Joe and Wells make eye contact, expressing to each other some mix of confusion, terror, and pride, but neither say a word. The silence lingers for a long moment.

Then a drawling voice comes from the entrance to the Cortex. "Knock, knock."

Silence over.

"Who's he?" Wally and Jesse ask in unison.

"Captain Cold?" Cisco says.

"What are you doing here, Snart?" Joe demands, raising his gun.

Snart rolls his eyes and lifts his arms slightly. "All of you need to chill. I saw Zoom on the news and came to investigate. We met at Gold City Bank." He drops the pieces of his gun on the floor. "He broke my gun. Cisco, I expect another. But I hear you're down a superhero. Thought you might want some help."

Joe lowers his gun and grits his teeth. "I'd love to say that we don't need your help."

"But we really do," Wells finishes. "Ramon, why don't you start making him another gun? We should figure out the limits of Wally and Jesse's new powers as soon as we can…"

He notices everyone looking at him with various levels of irritation.

Cisco's expression in particular hits him harder than the rest. It's sheer, mournful _distrust_.

"…Oh," Wells murmurs. In their eyes, in Cisco's in particular, he's just betrayed all of them. He no longer has the right to make suggestions.

Okay. Okay. It's going to be fine. There are two new speedsters and another vigilante on their team. All of them can work on stopping Zoom. Saving Snow. Wells can stay out of the way. He can work alone.

And the task before him is clear.

The others will stop Zoom. They'll save Snow.

Wells will bring Barry back.


	4. Chapter 4

Cisco wishes he could vibe right now.

Things are simpler in vibes. He sees, he hears, he doesn't feel.

He doesn't feel.

It would be a welcome relief at the moment. There are so many emotions tangled up in his mind that he has to take a minute to decipher them.

Acknowledge the obvious: grief. Crushing, all-consuming, all-powerful, waves and waves of mind-numbing thought-muting grief that Barry's dead.

Underneath it, mostly masked by the above but certainly there in a slightly different flavor, lies his longing to see Caitlin again. A thousand if-she-were-here thoughts rip through his head every moment, adding little jabs of terror and dread when he considers the danger she's in.

Fury, so hot and intense he feels like he could punch straight through a wall. Yeah, most of it is aimed at Harry, but a good portion is self-directed. Cisco didn't argue against this inane plan. He didn't say that it was crazy, that it would _never ever work_. No, he _joked_ about it, and _so_ _selfishly_ worried that he might be the one to get struck by lightning instead.

Then there's the small but growing sense of eagerness he's feeling about Wally and Jesse, and even Snart. Not one, but _two_ new speedsters? If he can rebuild the tachyon device, maybe another one, and they train intensely, they could be faster than Zoom. With Snart's help, they could _beat_ him—

But Barry still won't be back. And he's made it full circle and back again to the agonizing grief.

Cisco focuses. Wally and Jesse are in the treadmill room, conversing quietly with each other.

"Who's going first?" he asks loudly so they can hear him. Joe and Iris are on either side of him, watching through the glass wall. Snart is a few steps away, Henry has left, and Cisco has no idea where Harry is and doesn't really want to know.

"I will," Wally volunteers immediately. He climbs on the treadmill. "How does this work? What if I fall?" He looks doubtfully behind him at the mess of bubble wrap and cardboard boxes.

"You'll be fine," Cisco says, leaving off the 'Barry always was' that immediately pops into his head.

"Okay. Start the treadmill."

Cisco hits a button, and Wally starts to run.

"He's fast," Snart comments, maybe a little impressed.

At superspeed, yellow lightning crackling around him, wearing a S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt, Wally looks so _achingly_ like Barry that Cisco has to turn away.

He grits his teeth and refocuses his attention. It's not fair to Wally. He needs training. He needs to get faster if they're to have a hope of defeating Zoom.

Wally's running fast, matching Barry when he first started out. Cisco wonders absently if Wally's and Jesse's cells are at the same level of activity that Barry's were at the beginning.

He knows who would be able to test that.

Caitlin.

"Nope, Cisco, you're not doing this to yourself," he mutters under his breath. Iris and Joe glance at him and then go back to watching Wally run.

Wally's hitting roughly three hundred miles an hour at this point, and the number slowly increases. It's 323 and then he trips, crashing into the boxes and bubble wrap.

"Your turn, Jesse."

There's an odd edge to Wally's voice. Iris notices it—she's not sure that anyone else would, but she does. It mirrors precisely the mood already present in S.T.A.R. Labs.

Usually, this place is cheerful. Even when they're fighting metas bent on destroying the world, they do it with clever names and jokes and smiles.

Not anymore. It's not just Barry's death. It's the threat Zoom poses. Like the Reverse Flash last year, nobody can see a way out of this situation. Iris is glad that Wally has a way to defend himself now—he's wanted to help out the Flash for a while. But the edge in Wally's voice is brittle, constructed of tension, apprehension, even fear. The same the rest of them have been feeling.

There's no time for clever names. There's no room for jokes. And nobody is smiling.

S.T.A.R. Labs is, on the whole, _scared_.

Jesse gets on the treadmill and, with very little fanfare, starts running.

That's the reason, Iris realizes, watching her feet move at impossible speeds. Barry was always running toward things. Mostly danger.

Now—and it's not just Wally or Jesse doing this, no, it's all of them.

Because it doesn't require superspeed to be running _away_ from something.

Or, more aptly, running away from _everything_.

* * *

Joe's phone rings.

"Captain Singh," he says, mostly to Iris. "I have to take this."

He tears his gaze away from the two speedsters displaying their impressive velocity and answers the phone.

"Joe West."

"Joe, we need to talk." Joe winces at the captain's voice. It's not irritation—he could deal with irritation.

But Singh sounds resigned. Like he's given up.

"I agree," Joe says. "I'll meet you at…" He trails off, unsure how to end the sentence. The station? Jitters? Both ridiculous choices.

"Meet me at my apartment." Singh gives him the address.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Joe hangs up and turns to the others. He opens his mouth to explain and immediately Wally is out of the treadmill room and in front of him, waiting expectantly.

Joe shakes his head, still unused to his son's speed. "I have to go. Captain Singh has… questions, I'm sure."

He casts a glance around at the situation. Snart is wandering around the Cortex, looking at the devices and equations. Dangerous, but they have no choice but to trust him right now. Wally, Jesse, new speedsters who have no idea what they're doing. Cisco as their guide, but he doesn't look fully functional.

But he trusts Iris to hold them all together, even through her own grief. She's done it before. After Eddie.

"See you soon, Dad," she says.

Joe nods and leaves. Hoping.

* * *

At Singh's apartment, Joe sits on the couch and watches the captain pace around the room.

"Well?" Joe asks finally.

"I've figured some things out. Correct me if I'm wrong."

Joe nods, and Singh takes a deep breath.

"Allen is the Flash. You've been working with him and the S.T.A.R. Labs team for a while, years probably. This… Zoom, he's kidnapped Caitlin Snow. Somehow Allen lost his speed, which is why he hasn't stopped Zoom yet. Anything I'm missing?"

Joe lets out a brief, slightly hysterical laugh. "Well…" Zoom's from an alternate universe, for one. There are two new speedsters, one of which is _also_ from another universe, the other of which is his son. Oh, and, most important: "Barry's not coming back."

Singh frowns. It takes him a moment. "…He's… not coming back."

Joe is unspeakably relieved that he doesn't have to explain further.

"All right." Singh takes in the news. "All right." He stops pacing and leans against an armchair, rubbing his face. "I trust you, Joe. I trust the S.T.A.R. Labs team." He frowns again. "Is it just Cisco now?"

"We have some other… allies." Joe doesn't elaborate; it's too complicated to explain that a dead man from another universe and his daughter are helping, along with Joe's son and daughter, and a convicted criminal.

"You'd better get back to them." Singh nods, suddenly certain. "If… If you're right, and the Flash is… Barry is… Well. Someone will have to stop Zoom. Joe—be careful."

All Joe can do is nod. He's so, so tired.

"Call me if you need anything," Singh says, and Joe nods again and leaves.

Back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

They have work to do.

* * *

Zoom has work to do.

The city's his. No Flash. Even that Captain Cold pretender was easy to brush off. The city's his. So.

He's got some metas to recruit.

It's almost laughably easy now. He glances down at the watch he snatched from Wells on his way out of S.T.A.R. Labs. The alert is going bright red right now, telling him that there's a meta nearby.

Yup. That'd be him.

Jay switches it off and then runs, looking for another meta. It's not that he needs them. But the more people he can intimidate into working for him, the more tools in his grasp, the easier it'll be to take over not just Central City but the country.

He wonders absently about that non-meta vigilante over in Star City. The Green Arrow. By all accounts he's defeated some enemies that were pretty close to metas themselves.

Definitely better to have a few surprise weapons in his arsenal.

So he runs through the city, enjoying how citizens, walking to work in the early morning light, flinch away from the blue and grey streak passing by them.

 _Beepbeep_. The watch flashes red, and Zoom reverses his path, snatches up the woman who set off the alert, and deposits her in an alley.

"What's going on?" She looks flustered. The woman is wearing a blue dress, high-heeled boots, and, as she turns to face Zoom, dark sunglasses.

"You're a metahuman," Jay growls by way of greeting.

"I don't know what you—" The woman stops talking when Zoom suddenly stands directly in front of her, less than a foot away. The watch beeps again.

"You're a metahuman," he repeats. "And you're going to help me." He lifts his hand, vibrating it, a threat whether she knows it or not. "Or you'll die."

She swallows, visibly frightened, and removes her sunglasses, keeping her eyes on the ground. "You're Zoom, aren't you? I saw the news." She nods slowly. "I'll help you." Her voice breaks. "Just don't kill me."

"Good." Jay tones down the psycho death growl a little. "Who are you, and what can you do?"

"The name's Hypnota." Everything about the woman's demeanor shifts, from her scared cower to a defiant tilt of her head. She finally makes eye contact. "And _this_."

Her eyes… her eyes are bluer than her dress and seem to be spinning. Jay immediately finds himself thrown into a state of passivity. He should kill her, he should go, but he can't muster the will to do so.

"You're going to stop intimidating the city. Stop killing people." Hypnota's voice is dizzyingly confident. "Go back to wherever you came from and leave Central City alone."

Jay shakes his head. Her commands feel… convincing. He's going to…

His speed force-enhanced mind buzzes around and then breaks through the commands. No. He's not going to do that. Any of it. In fact…

He slams her against the alley wall and hears a rib or two shatter.

"Nice try. Unfortunately, fatal for you."

Hypnota gasps in a breath and struggles to make eye contact again, but Jay just closes his eyes. He can kill her blind.

"I would never help you. None of us would."

"Of _us_?" The Zoom growl is back in full force.

Hypnota doesn't respond beyond coughing up blood.

Zoom, disgusted, crushes her heart with a vibrating hand and is off. There are more metas. He doesn't need this one.

"None of us," Hypnota whispers with the last air from her lungs and reaches up to touch a pin, the last sentiment of a dying meta, attached to her dress, just above her heart. Her wet fingers smear blood over it.

The pin is simple, four black letters on a white background.

 _M.A.T.E._

* * *

 _A/N: Don't worry, you're not supposed to recognize that acronym._

 _Yet._

 _By the way, I don't particularly like asking for them, but reviews give me life. And motivation to write more._

 _Next chapter tomorrow!_


	5. Chapter 5

There's a bar in one of the shadier parts of town, with some of the strangest customers in the city.

The hand-carved wooden sign outside proclaims it to be the _Rum Mates_ , a semi-clever name that fronts a much cleverer patronage inside.

Roughly half of the customers are fairly normal. A couple petty criminals, but you have to expect that from a bar in this location.

The other half, well, they're a lot more interesting.

The bar is currently closed, but there are still around twenty people gathered in the space. Albert, the bartender, disperses glasses of water, each of which shimmer and change to the patron's preferred drink as he sets them down.

"Tell everyone what you saw, Sierra," the man in the corner urges the woman next to him.

"Okay." Sierra takes a deep breath. "I saw it clearly, unlike most of my visions. It happened a few hours ago. You've all seen the news about Zoom, right?"

Assorted nods around the room. Edwin nods so emphatically that his head momentarily flattens into two dimensions before reshaping into three.

"Zoom grabbed Sasha and tried to force her to join him. She did her Hypnota thing on him and it worked for a moment, but then it wore off." Sierra winces. "He killed her."

"Did she tell him about us?" Richard asks, panicky. The crowd of shadows that usually surrounds his head parts, and for once everyone can see his worried expression.

"She said none of us would help him. Zoom was confused about what she meant by _us_ , but he didn't see the pin."

All around the room, hands reach up to touch their respective pins, each of which is exactly the same: white background, the acronym M.A.T.E.

"Is he going to try recruiting the rest of us?" Despite Tyler's best efforts, his fear enhances the production of slippery oil through his skin and his glass of liquor shatters against the floor.

The others groan, Albert the loudest. "That's the fourth glass you've broken this month, Tyler."

"I'm on it," Lizzie says. She pulls a lump of misshapen metal from her purse and focuses. The lump transforms into a metal cup, exactly the same size and shape as the glass was.

She tosses the metal cup to Albert, who clasps his hands around it. In his grasp, the metal shimmers and changes to glass. "Thanks, Lizzie." He places it on the bar behind him.

"Tyler has a point, though," Rosco says from his corner. Everyone looks to him, their immediate attention making it clear that he's the leader of the ragtag group. "It's doubtful that this is an isolated incident. But I don't want any more of us killed. The Mates have enough problems already."

"So we're going to join him?" Char asks, tugging anxiously at his gloves. "What happened to the _Anti-Terror_ part of our name?"

"The point of the Mates is to _not_ get the Flash to come after us," Fay adds.

"The Flash doesn't seem to be in action right now," Rosco says. "And I _won't_ have any more of us slaughtered by this madman. If he asks you, go along with him. The city's in a lot of danger, but we can't stop a crazed speedster."

"So we obey Zoom?" Sierra checks.

Rosco nods. "We obey Zoom."

* * *

Wally is having the time of his life.

Okay, that's not quite fair. It's hard to be truly excited about his newfound abilities when Barry is dead. Or gone. Or _whatever_. Jesse's dad is trying to figure out a way to get him back, which seems weird to Wally, but, hey, stranger things have happened in Central City.

But regardless of what's going on currently, the simple fact that he has powers is _awesome_. He's not just able to help the Flash, he's _become_ the Flash.

"Isn't this cool?" he says to Jesse when she steps off the treadmill. They've been alternating, building up speed. Their average has doubled from around 300 mph to 600 in just a few hours.

"Sure," she says, without emphasis.

"You don't think so?"

Jesse sighs and looks through two sets of windows at her father, who's in Cisco's workroom and looks totally absorbed, scribbling equations frantically. "Where I come from, if you're a meta, there's only one destiny that awaits you. You'll be recruited by Zoom and forced to help him. And right now, our fate here seems like it might be exactly the same."

"It won't happen like that," Wally says, speaking with far more certainty than he actually feels. "Besides, Cisco's making us suits with those… tach-y things?"

"Tachyon enhancers," Jesse says with a laugh.

It's the first time Wally has heard her laugh.

It's a nice sound.

* * *

Cisco had forgotten how annoying it was to work with Captain Cold in the room. But he seems to genuinely be on their side these days, so he's forced to put up with him.

Because Harry has taken over his workroom, again, doing God-knows-what (Cisco's just glad he's out of the way, he can't deal with Harry right now), Cisco has relocated to the Cortex.

He's making two suits in the same style as Barry's, sized to Wally's and Jesse's measurements. Snart, now that he's pilfered Cisco's workroom for supplies, is next to him, constructing a new gun.

"So, do you have a plan for defeating this _Zoom_?" Snart asks.

"Nope," Cisco says shortly. "I'm sure we'll come up with something. We always do."

"Of course. In the meantime, I've got an idea."

Cisco glances over at Snart, the needle he's using to sew together leather scraps slipping. "What?"

Snart doesn't look at him, focused on screwing together a few pieces of metal. "Zoom has some girl he cares about enough to not kill me. Our mutual friend Dr. Snow is MIA. I'm not certain, but it would seem that these facts are related."

"All right, yeah. Jay— _Zoom_ —has got Caitlin. Apparently he cares about her. What's your point?"

"Simple logic, kid. We kidnap Caitlin from her kidnapper. Threaten her publicly. Zoom panics, worries about finding her. Everyone's got a weakness. We use her against him."

"Wait." Cisco puts down the suit he's working on and turns to fully face Snart. "You're saying that we need to retrieve Caitlin from where Zoom is holding her, which is a problem all on its own, and then instead of taking her to a safe place, _threaten_ her?"

"That's what I'm saying." Snart lifts his newly completed gun and shoots at the wall.

Ice blossoms out from the barrel and piles up on the wall. Snart nods approvingly. "The two new Flashes can distract Zoom. I'll get Snow. And then it's just a game. One that I'm very good at playing."

Cisco shakes his head and goes back to working on the suit. "This is crazy." That's all he says. Technically, not a rejection.

"Crazy is kind of Central City's motto at this point," Snart returns.

Cisco can't disagree. "Give me the gun. I'm going to make it better."

* * *

The watch beeps and flashes red. Jay turns around and locates the origin of the meta alert. The man looks for the most part normal, but there's something slightly off about him. Jay can't tell what it is.

He transports the man to the same alley where he confronted Hypnota—the body is long gone, of course, though the dark splotch of a bloodstain remains soaked into the pavement. In the same motion, he rifles through the man's pockets and learns his name from his driver's license before replacing the wallet.

"What's going on?" Richard Swift asks.

Jay holds up the watch, which beeps again. "Hello, Richard. You're a metahuman."

Richard clears his throat, visibly scared, and stammers out, "…Yes. You're Zoom, right?"

"That's right. You're going to work for me."

He swallows. "And if I don't?"

Zoom slams him against the wall by the throat. " _You'll do it_."

"Okay," he chokes out.

Jay releases him, but stays on his guard. The other woman agreed and immediately tried to turn on him. This man might do the same.

"What are your powers?"

Richard lifts a hand. Immediately, the alley darkens as shadows swarm around them, throwing the pair of metas into blackness. He lowers his hand and the shadows go back to where they belong. "I go by Shade."

Jay realizes what looks odd about the man.

He doesn't have a shadow.

"What do you want me to do?" Shade asks.

* * *

Across town, Cisco shouts to the others scattered around S.T.A.R. Labs, "Zoom just recruited his first meta."

* * *

Caitlin's trying to sleep. It's difficult, not only because of the constricting handcuffs but also because nightmares keep jolting her in and out of reality.

The pervertedly funny thing is, she can't tell which is worse.

The nightmares or reality.

As she falls back into a fitful doze, her manacled hand brushes the desk it's attached to.

A delicate layer of frost spreads from her fingertips across the wood.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Nice long chapter today. There should be about three more, all posted before the new episode airs. Which means I have a lot of writing to do._

 _Thank you so much for all the reviews; they're really motivating. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

When Caitlin finally jerks out of her drifting pattern of awake-asleep-awake, the side of the desk is covered in frost.

She's not sure whether she's still dreaming as she brushes a hand across it. The cold wetness of it convinces her that she's awake, and she can't even feel surprised as her heart simultaneously drops and leaps.

Drops, because it looks like she's become a meta. And she knows exactly what her Earth-2 counterpart did with her powers.

Leaps, because now she's got a way out.

Caitlin twists her wrist to grip the handcuff. Her hand is freezing, whether because of it being held upright for hours (days? No way to tell), or because of her newfound powers.

She has no idea how to do it, but she tries to freeze the metal. Simple science: the lower temperature will cause the metal to contract. The tension will force the screws holding the cuffs together out of their holes.

Caitlin focuses. The metal grows cool underneath her fingers, but then Jay rushes in and it's too dangerous to try.

She shifts slightly to better shield the frost on the desk from his view and blinks at him, trying to make herself look scared and exhausted.

Not a very difficult task.

Jay's not alone. He's brought two others with him, a man and a woman.

"Who are they?" Caitlin asks.

Maybe because of the company, Jay continues to use his Zoom voice. "This is Shade and Blacksmith. They're going to be watching over you for a while."

Before she can talk to him, beg him not to kill anyone, he's gone, leaving her with the two metas.

Caitlin raises her chin and straightens her spine. She has no idea who these new metas are, she's sure they could easily kill her, but at least now she has a way to defend herself.

The two of them approach her. The woman, Blacksmith, cracks her knuckles. Caitlin refuses to wince.

"If you kill me, Zoom will kill _you_ ," she says.

"We're not here to kill you," Shade says, his tone far less threatening than Caitlin would have expected.

"I'm Lizzie. This is Richard," Blacksmith— _Lizzie_ —adds. "You're Caitlin Snow, aren't you? You work with the Flash."

"Yes." Caitlin frowns. "What does the city know about the Flash right now?"

"We suspect something's happened to him. Which is why we agreed to work for Zoom. But nothing's certain. Top said—"

Richard cuts off when Lizzie throws him a look.

"Anyway, Caitlin, we're getting you out of here," Richard says.

Lizzie comes toward her. "Give me the handcuff."

Caitlin pulls back, eyes wide, and shakes her head. "Zoom will kill you anyway if I'm gone."

She hesitates.

Richard points at the ice coating the desk. "You're a meta too? Easy. You escaped. Froze us. Ran off."

"Why would you risk something like that for me?"

"We need the Flash. And we need to stop Zoom."

"But you're working for him." Caitlin still isn't certain if she can trust them. If Jay realizes these two metas have let Caitlin go, he'll slaughter them without hesitating.

Richard shakes his head. "Not willingly. Do it, Lizzie."

Lizzie grasps the handcuff. Caitlin watches as it pops open.

She rubs her wrist and stands up slowly. "Thank you."

"Here." Richard hands her a small white circle.

"What is this?" Caitlin flips it over. It's a button with the initials M.A.T.E.

"There's a bar," Lizzie explains. "The Rum Mates. You shouldn't go home, you shouldn't go anywhere Zoom can find you. Go there. Give the pin to the bartender. He'll help you out."

"Now hurry, before Zoom returns," Richard urges. "Hit us with some ice, or something."

He and Lizzie both brace themselves.

Caitlin focuses. She has no idea how to summon up ice, especially on the same level as Killer Frost.

When nothing happens for a moment, Richard lets out a laugh.

"Your powers are new, aren't they?"

Caitlin nods. "I don't know what I'm doing."

"Emotion," Lizzie says. "Until you figure out exactly how to do it, summon up some sort of emotion. Adrenaline usually kick-starts it, but anger or sadness or joy will work just as well."

"Okay." Joy is out of the question, but Caitlin has a whole lot of pent-up anger and sadness. She brings the thought _Barry's dead_ to the forefront of her mind and grits her teeth, holding out her hands toward the two waiting metas.

Spirals of ice shoot from her palms, knocking both of them to the floor. Then Caitlin runs, being sure to head away from S.T.A.R. Labs. She hopes Jay will check the camera footage outside the precinct and not go to S.T.A.R. Labs instead. She hopes Jay won't kill the metas.

Most of all, she hopes this bartender can help her.

* * *

Cisco needs to get away from it all, so, of _course_ , because he loves torturing himself, he goes down to the breach room.

But no, he can't even be alone for a minute, because Harry's down there, taking some measurements or something.

He turns to go, hesitates, and then turns back. "Do you really think you'll be able to bring him back?"

Harry doesn't look at him. "Yes. I'll bring him back."

"You haven't talked to any of us in hours. You can't do this alone, Harry."

Harry shakes his head. "Go help Wally and Jesse. They're getting faster. We'll need their speed if we're going to defeat Zoom."

"Oh, okay, I'll just leave you here to drive yourself insane."

"Yup, do that."

"No!" Cisco descends the stairs, tries not to look at the pieces of Barry's suit. "Harry, you need to move on. Jesse needs you."

That finally makes him look away from the data on the screen, look at Cisco for the first time. His eyes convey a deep, ragged exhaustion. "She has all of you. She'll be fine. I need to get Barry back."

"No— _yeah_ , we need Barry, but _we_ are going to get him back. It's not up to you alone, Harry."

"My plan. My fault. My responsibility to fix it." He looks away, goes back to work.

"Hold on, you think this was _your_ fault?" Sure, Cisco blamed him at the beginning. But now… "It was Barry's choice. We all went along with it. You don't get to claim responsibility. You don't have to… what, redeem yourself?" Cisco scoffs. "Come on. Jesse needs your help. We all do." A slight pause. "I do."

"Can you feel him?"

It's such a change of topic that Cisco blinks. "What do you mean?"

Harry puts down the tablet and looks directly at Cisco. "Or vibe, or whatever. Can you feel Barry here? Is he… alive? Okay? Somewhere?"

Cisco closes his eyes, holds out his hands, and focuses.

There's nothing there.

He readjusts, shakes his hands out, puts them out again.

"Anything?" The hope in Harry's voice is painful to hear.

The answer comes out choked. "Nothing."

Harry closes his eyes and lets out a long breath. "He's somewhere. I know he's not dead."

Cisco doesn't want to hope. It's too painful. "All right. Until you figure it out, take a break. Come back up to the Cortex. Snart's got a crazy plan and we could use the help."

Harry rubs his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let's go."

* * *

"You're right, Cisco, this is crazy."

"I have to agree with Wells," Joe says. "Wally and Jesse are too new at this."

"We can handle it, Dad," Wally says.

Jesse nods her agreement. "All we have to do is keep Zoom away from the precinct for long enough that Leonard can grab Caitlin."

"There are so many things that can go wrong with this," Joe says. "Not to mention that we know Jay has at least two other metas working for him, probably more."

"Three, actually," Cisco inserts. "The camera outside CCPD caught a third one entering. Zoom didn't go inside, just ran off."

"Not a problem," Snart drawls. "The Flashes will keep Zoom away from the precinct. I'll deal with the metas."

"With three of them, at the same time?" Wells questions.

Snart lifts his gun. "Cisco made a few adjustments. I'll take them down."

"And," Cisco adds, "I'll man the hologram. Even if Zoom doesn't believe it, when there are three Flashes running around Wally and Jesse _will_ be safe."

"It's not like we're trying to fight him, Dad," Jesse says at Wells's doubtful expression. "We're just diverting him."

"You would let Barry do it," Iris says to both Joe and Wells. She smiles at the two speedsters, both outfitted in identical Flash suits. "I believe in them."

The computer beeps, and Cisco checks the alert. "Zoom's been spotted out by the Inglewood neighborhood."

Wally and Jesse look to their fathers.

Wells and Joe make eye contact. Again, they communicate the same things to each other: concern, fear, doubt.

But they both know they're out of other options.

"Go," Joe says.

"Be careful," Wells adds.

They're off without another word, taking Snart with them.

Everyone in S.T.A.R. Labs offers up a silent prayer to whatever gods there may be that this crazy, desperate plan works.

* * *

Three metas in one day. Despite Hypnota's betrayal, Zoom considers his recruitment a success. It helps that he already has a reputation. Nobody will dare to cross him.

He's looking for other metas when a blur of red and yellow streaks by at the edge of his vision.

Jay sets his jaw and glares, changing route to chase what's surely the hologram. He's already informed the city the Flash is a fake; why would the S.T.A.R. Labs team continue to push their deception?

The false Flash stops near the entrance to a warehouse, and Zoom pauses about half a block away.

He's not flickering like the hologram did, and something seems a little off about him. He's vibrating his face, blurring out anything recognizable.

"I'm back."

It's Barry's voice, sure, but still, there's something slightly wrong about it.

"How have you returned, Flash?"

The Flash crosses his arms and shifts stance, and there it is—he's shorter. By nearly a foot, if Jay's estimate is right.

"I'll tell you when you catch me." The Flash adds a laugh, and now Zoom knows it can't be Barry—there was something so _not_ _Barry_ about that laugh.

He runs at the not-Barry Flash, who runs too. They race through the city.

The Flash leads him on a winding path, taking shortcuts and dodging down odd alleyways.

No matter what routes he takes, though, there's one fact this Flash can't run away from.

Zoom is faster.

Not by much, but the difference is enough that Zoom's gaining on him.

Doesn't matter who this Flash is. Zoom's going to win.

* * *

Jesse knows he's faster. She's scared, not that she'd ever admit it. The tachyon device is enhancing her speed, and the voice modifier that sounds like Barry has certainly confused Zoom.

He's just a few steps behind her now. Jesse can feel adrenaline pumping through her, some terrified excitement that sets her pulse pounding faster and her legs shaking even in their speed.

 _Left!_

The word bursts into her head in a searing impulse, and she listens, ducking left, flat against a door. Zoom shoots past her and she peers out, only to see him change targets to Wally, who's at the end of the alley. Wally takes off and Zoom follows.

Jesse lets out a shaky breath of surprise and relief and runs the other way down the alley. Now she has to circle around to get Zoom away from Wally.

As she runs, she considers the voice in her head.

Impossibly, it sounded like Barry.

* * *

This is exhilarating, terrifying, and it's all happening so quickly. Wally runs, speeding through the streets of the city, zigzagging around to confuse Zoom.

He's not sure if it's working. He just hopes Jesse is safe. From the little he's seen of Dr. Wells, he knows the man can be deadly when it comes to her. If he lets anything happen to her, regardless of whose fault it is, Wally's not sure even his speed will save him.

Zoom is faster.

That's not good.

And Wally doesn't know the city well. He finds himself at the end of an alley, boxed in.

Zoom stops a few yards away.

"Who are you?" he growls.

Wally looks around, no way out, unless he can go up the walls.

Wait.

 _Run straight at the wall, jump near the base,_ something in his mind tells him, the voice oddly familiar.

He doesn't think about it too much, just obeys the urge.

And then he's running up a wall, across the roofs, leaping over the gaps between buildings. Zoom pursues, and Wally can only spare a moment to think about how the impulse spoke in Barry's voice.

Jesse is suddenly running alongside him for a moment, Cisco's hologram joins in, and then the three Flashes split and race away, leading Zoom across the city.

* * *

The precinct door is the perfect opportunity for Snart to test out the full capabilities of his new gun. He flicks a switch and the barrel rotates, tightening up. Now when he pulls the trigger, razor-sharp shards of ice fly out, instead of the usual thick blast. The icicles slice right through the gap between the door and the wall, snapping the lock.

Less fun than blasting the whole door right off its hinges, but slightly subtler.

"I'm in," he whispers to everyone back at S.T.A.R. Labs, and enters the building.

He hears murmured conversation, sounds like an argument, from the captain's office. The three metas, two men and a woman, are visible through the glass window. He sees them but they don't see him. Perfect.

The question, though, is where's the girl? She's not anywhere in sight. Maybe in one of the offices? Upstairs? Annoying.

Weird, too: there's some ice already on the ground and a couple of the desks, ice he's sure didn't come from him.

Snart throws another glance at the metas. Great. They're now looking back at him.

"Here we go," he mutters to himself, raising his gun and flipping a different switch.

The first one out of the office is one of the men. Snart immediately pulls the trigger. Ice flares out in a wide range this time, almost twenty feet across. The meta might be able to avoid it, but he'll have to use whatever powers he's got.

Snart squints to see through the ice. The meta does, in fact, display his abilities. He twitches his fingers, and a rope tied around his waist unwinds itself and attaches to the ceiling. The man swings out of the way and lands on his feet on the other side of the room.

The other two metas leave the office just as the first guy sends his rope shooting toward Snart. Snart fires again in the direction of the office and doesn't wait to see if the new metas avoid it, instead turning and freezing the rope in midair before it can reach him.

Suddenly, the room goes pitch-black, except for a single spotlight-esque cylinder of light around the rope meta. The man blinks confusedly, squinting into the darkness around him. His rope lengthens and spins around him, but he can't see to aim at Snart.

Snart, baffled, shoots at him again. The rope doesn't protect him from the ice, and due to the lighting he can't see it until it's too late.

One meta down. Two to go… maybe?

The question is, if the sudden darkness was due to one of the metas, why would they help him?

And where on earth is Caitlin?


	7. Chapter 7

The lights come back up and Snart aims at the other two metas.

They both throw their hands in the air.

"Don't shoot," the woman says immediately. "We're on your side… I think?" Her eyes narrow in confusion. "What side are you on?"

Snart frowns. "You're working for Zoom."

"Not by choice," the man says. He lowers his hands and extends one to Snart. "I'm Richard." A small swirl of shadow drifts out of his palm and then disappears. "Shade, if you want my meta name."

Snart considers, and then lowers the gun and shakes his hand. "And you?" He turns to the woman.

"Lizzie. Blacksmith." She pulls out a lump of metal. It transforms in her hand into the shape of a rose, and then back to its misshapen form. "You need to leave, now, before he comes back. I don't know who you are, but I assume you're on the Flash's side, which means if Zoom sees us talking to you all three of us are doomed."

This doesn't quite add up. "Who's that?" Snart tilts his head toward the frozen rope meta.

"Calls himself Slipknot. He's not with us," Richard says.

"What happened to Caitlin?"

"We helped her escape," Lizzie says without hesitation. "I guess if you're on Zoom's side, I just signed my death warrant."

"Lucky for you that I'm not. Where is she?"

"That, we don't know," Richard says. "If you're working with the Flash, I'm sure she'll come find you eventually." He throws a nervous glance at the door. "You better get out of here before Zoom returns."

"Right." Snart doesn't like this situation. There aren't a lot of metas he thinks he can trust. And these two? Their loyalty is far too questionable for his liking.

He turns away and speaks quietly into his comms. "I need a ride out of here."

"Did you get Caitlin?" Cisco asks.

"It's complicated. Get one of those kids over here now."

"Wally's on his way."

Within a minute, Snart is swept out of the building and onto a nearby roof.

"Zoom was right behind me," Wally says, throwing a glance over his shoulder.

"He's headed into the precinct. Things are about to get bad for the metas he's recruited." Snart sighs. "Get Jesse here too. We can't go back to S.T.A.R. Labs for a while."

"Why not?"

"Zoom isn't going to be happy."

* * *

Jay is furious.

Caitlin's gone.

He doesn't even need to pin Blacksmith to the wall—just entering the room, seeing the destruction, and turning to her is enough.

Blacksmith is frantic. "Please, I'm so sorry, she got out of the handcuffs and attacked us and you didn't say she was a meta—"

"So it wasn't that Captain Cold?" Jay reconsiders the ice coating the walls and floor. He'd assumed it was the man he didn't kill earlier, but if this all was due to Caitlin…

He was right. She gave into the darkness. Unlocked her potential.

His anger twists into something resembling pride. Now all he has to do is find her, and she'll join him. She'll care for him again.

Now his only problem is those three speedsters. One of them was surely the hologram—it flickered and wouldn't go under any bridges. The other two, though…

"Search the city," Jay commands the three metas—no, two, one of them has been frozen solid. "If you find any sign of speedsters, report back."

Blacksmith and Shade nod immediately and leave the building.

As for Jay, Caitlin's gone and there are two more vigilante speedsters.

Time for Zoom to pay a visit to S.T.A.R. Labs.

* * *

"If we can't go back to S.T.A.R. Labs," Wally says thoughtfully, "then maybe we can take Barry's job."

Snart stops examining his gun. "What does that mean, West?"

Jesse grins. "We can go be vigilantes!" She holds out her hand to Snart. "If you have a phone, I can get into the police dispatch."

Snart gives her a disgusted look. "No."

"Come on," Jesse says. "If Zoom is really going to S.T.A.R. Labs, he won't be around to stop us, and crime has gone up since the Flash lost his powers."

"Are the two of you aware that I actually used to be one of those criminals? We should give them a chance before the two of you officially become the protectors of the city."

"Come on," Wally says. "We need the practice."

"Besides," Jesse adds with a slightly sinister smile, "we'll do it with or without you, and, if anything were to go wrong, both of our dads would kill you."

Snart sighs. Loudly. Doesn't admit that he's dying to go shoot up some criminals.

He hands Jesse his phone. "Fine. Let's go play hero."

The first call they overhear is from a man saying that his wife has gone crazy and has a gun. The moment he gives his address, all three of them are off to his house.

Wally is the first through the door. He sets down Snart right inside and tears through the house, looking for the woman.

She's upstairs, having cornered her husband and their little girl in a bedroom. Wally enters just as the gun goes off, and time seems to slow down. He can't get both the man and the girl out of the way in time, not without throwing them through the window.

 _Grab the bullet,_ the thought comes, and he flies toward the bullet, which is moving just a little bit slower than he is.

He snags it out of the air just before it reaches them. Immediately, Jesse runs into the room behind him and restrains the woman, taking the gun and tying her to the bedpost with the sheets.

The pair of them are gone before the man and his daughter can even register that they were there, let alone thank them.

Next, on to a jewelry heist in downtown. This time, Jesse is the first inside. She pauses by the door, giving one of the masked robbers enough time to shoot at her.

The bullet smashes into the glass case, shattering it, and Jesse obeys the command _Duck!_ that bursts into her head. Then she zips around the shards of glass and knocks the first of them to the floor. Wally, right behind her, gets the second, and Snart blasts the third with a fountain of ice.

All three of them are smiling as they leave the jewelry store.

Two of their friends are missing, the rest of them are surely in danger—

But the city has someone to defend it again.

* * *

S.T.A.R. Labs is panicking.

If Caitlin's missing, Zoom will come here first to find her. And Zoom can't learn about Jesse and Wally. All of them agree on that.

Cisco cuts off the comms the moment Captain Cold relates what's going on. Harry shoves the remaining fabric scraps and Snart's broken gun underneath a pile of other stuff in Cisco's workroom. Joe convinces Iris to take up residence in the time vault for her safety.

Then the three of them—Cisco, Harry, and Joe—wait.

Two minutes. That's all it takes.

And then Zoom comes rushing into the Cortex and they all flinch, settle, brace themselves.

"Where is Caitlin?" he growls.

Cisco answers immediately, crossing his arms. "What do you mean? You're the one holding her prisoner."

"Is she gone?" Joe asks, his tone just the right combination of hesitant, confused, and a little bit hopeful.

"You know where she is." Zoom turns slowly to look directly at all of them, his mask and lightning making the movement superhumanly bizarre.

"Search S.T.A.R. Labs," Harry invites through gritted teeth. "You've won, Zolomon. You don't need to play these games."

He's gone in a burst of blue lightning. Cisco thinks back, hopes hopes _hopes_ that Jay never learned about the time vault, that he doesn't find Iris.

He doesn't want to see any more friends die.

And Zoom's back, with no sign of knowing about Iris hidden away.

"You know where she is."

"She's at the precinct, isn't she?" Cisco says. "I vibed that much." Make him believe it, make him believe, easier because Cisco actually doesn't know where she is.

Zoom tilts his head, and Cisco can _see_ him considering.

"Who are the speedsters?" he rasps after a long moment.

Cisco glances at Joe and Harry. They look back at him, their faces masks of confusion.

"What _speedsters_?" It's Harry who finally spits the question. "Barry's…" He pauses. "Barry's dead. You're the only speedster on this Earth."

Then Zoom is right in Harry's face, watching him with that impassive mask. Harry winces but doesn't back down.

"If there were other speedsters, don't you think we'd be the first to know?" he asks.

"Where's your daughter?" Zoom backs away and looks at Joe. "Where's your son?"

Cisco's heart drops. He can't know about Wally and Jesse.

The fear triggers a vibe, shocking and brief:

 _A jewelry store downtown. Jesse in her Flash suit, thousands of glass shards flying toward her._

 _Inexplicably, Barry's voice shouts "Duck!" and Jesse ducks, then zips around the counter and takes down the shooter. Wally, Snart, both enter and incapacitate the other two robbers._

 _But Barry's voice…_

Cisco snaps back to reality in time to hear Joe answer, "They're getting out of the city."

Zoom's attention shifts to him.

"Far away. You've used both of them before. We weren't going to let them stay in the city. Kill us if you want. But they're long gone." Joe crosses his arms and sets his jaw.

"You're lying," Zoom accuses.

"Yesterday's train to Star City," Cisco blurts. "10:15 pm departure time." Zoom turns to him, and Cisco forces himself to continue. "Star wasn't their final stop. We didn't let them tell us where they were going next. Because we knew you would come looking."

Oh. Great. Now Jay is totally focused on him. That was a good choice, Cisco. Nice going.

Zoom goes to the computers and Cisco breathes a sigh of relief. Joe and Harry both look at him, panicked that Jay is checking the train schedule, and Cisco tries to communicate to them with his eyes that he knows what he's doing.

Zoom looks up. "Then who are the speedsters?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Cisco swallows. "But I hope they stop you."

Zoom is suddenly next to Cisco. He lifts a vibrating hand.

"I'm Caitlin's best friend," Cisco says hurriedly. "You do this and she'll never talk to you again."

Frustrated, Jay slams his hand through the wall and rips out a chunk of metal, and then he's gone.

Cisco is _so_ glad of all those trips to help out Oliver. So glad he's got the train schedule to Star memorized.

So where's Caitlin?

* * *

The bar is in a really shady part of town. Caitlin holds the pin tight in her fist as she enters.

It's just as seedy-looking on the inside—a handful of drunk patrons at dirty tables. Caitlin feels a sharp point of fear twist in her stomach.

Her hands are cold. She glances down and sees a few light trickles of snow drifting from her hands to the floor.

Caitlin struggles to regain her composure (she refuses to acknowledge it as keeping her _cool_ ) as she approaches the bar.

The bartender looks at her. "What can I get for you?"

"I need help." She places the pin on the bar.

His eyes widen in recognition. "Where did you get that?" He picks up a glass from behind him.

"Richard and Lizzie gave it to me." Caitlin frowns. "Shade and Blacksmith? They told me to come to you for help."

The bartender sets the glass down and grins. "I'm Dr. Alchemy. But you can call me Albert."

* * *

Caitlin tries to get Albert not to close down the bar for her.

He just laughs and says, "I don't actually make any money at this hour. Now, if this were after 9, we'd have a different conversation."

The other metas—the other _Mates_ —trickle in. Albert refused to tell her anything other than the name.

"Rosco likes explaining."

They all look curiously at Caitlin, but settle into seats like they do this regularly.

"From what I heard, this is everyone for today," Albert says to a man sitting in the corner. There are twenty or so people in the room.

"All right." The man looks at Caitlin. "Welcome to the Rum Mates. I'm Rosco."

"Caitlin Snow," Caitlin says slowly. "What is this?"

Rosco grins. "When the Flash started taking down criminal metas way back whenever, there were a lot of us who just wanted to stay out of his way. I made a forum for metas—I was always good with code, made it so that it would be hard for anyone associated with the Flash to find. Eventually, we all wanted more than just the forum—a training group, a meeting place, really, just some friends who had experienced the same thing."

"So you started meeting here?" Caitlin surmises.

Rosco nods. "Albert offered us the bar. It was Fay who came up with the acronym." He tilts his head at a girl across the room.

"All the metas that the news focused on were evil," she explains. "We didn't want to be. So we became M.A.T.E. The Metahuman Anti-Terror Ensemble."

"I would have preferred Alliance or Organization at the end," another woman says. "But the bar was already named the Rum Mates, and _mate_ has all the same letters as _meta_ , so it made more sense. I'm Magenta, by the way."

"Is that your real name or your code name?" Caitlin asks.

Magenta smirks. "Both, in my case. They all keep trying to convince me to go by Magneta, but that's so boring. I hear you're a meta, do you have a name?"

Caitlin grimaces. "I've been told I could go by Killer Frost."

The Mates generally shake their heads.

"Sounds too evil," one of the men says. "Mine's Starfinger, which is a little vague but sounds pretty cool." He lifts a gloved hand and waves slightly. "My real name is Char."

"Who picks these names?" Caitlin asks. "Cisco usually names the metas that the Flash fights."

"Fay is our resident name assigner, unless one of the Mates has a brilliant idea already," Rosco says. "I'm Top."

Fay nods. "My code name is Spellbinder."

"Good name." Caitlin rubs her hands, which are freezing, reminding her of the reason she's here. "On a more serious note… what do you know about Zoom?"

Their expressions fall.

"Zoom is a problem," Rosco says.

"That's putting it lightly," Albert says. "Lizzie and Richard have already been taken. If it wasn't for you, Caitlin, I'd just assume they were dead."

"They might be by now," Caitlin says grimly.

The mood darkens even further.

Caitlin lifts her hand, where frost is starting to creep over her skin. "We can help them. Zoom… he has this obsession with me. Now that I'm a meta—hopefully, a Mate as well—I might be able to stop him. But I need your help to learn how to use my powers."

They all nod.

"The first thing you need to do is find a way to access them consistently," Rosco begins.

"It starts with emotion or adrenaline." Char tugs off one of his gloves.

Everyone near Caitlin ducks out of the way as Char points his index finger at her. A laser beam comes shooting out of it.

Caitlin, more out of instinct than anything else, throws up her hands and turns her head away, closing her eyes, certain that she's about to die.

She doesn't. When she turns back, the laser has frozen in midair, contained within a solid block of ice that seems to hold steady in the air for a moment before falling to the ground and shattering.

"Self-preservation. The most reliable way to get ahold of your powers." Char grins at her. "Welcome to the Mates, Caitlin."

Fay reaches down and picks up one of the shards of ice. It glimmers in the low lighting like a gemstone.

"I think I figured out a name."

* * *

Iris has come back to the Cortex, along with Henry, as they all wait for the new vigilantes to return to S.T.A.R. Labs. Finally, Snart, Wally, and Jesse walk through the door. Wells immediately hugs his daughter.

"How did it go?"

"It was great, Dad. He didn't catch us."

Wally returns Joe's hug, and then Iris's. "We were fine."

"What about Caitlin?" Cisco asks.

"We don't know," Snart says. "Has she not shown up yet?"

"No. Zoom did," Wells says. "He asked about the two new speedsters."

"Cisco managed to convince him that the two of you had gotten on a train to Star City," Joe adds.

Cisco nods absently. "Memorized the train schedule. All that travel to help out the Green Arrow."

Cisco is so easy to read. There's obviously something bothering him. Wells knows he won't bring it up unless asked, so he asks.

"What is it, Ramon?"

"Uh, nothing, just—" He looks at Wally and Jesse. "I vibed the two of you in that jewelry store. And, it was the weirdest thing…" He pauses. "I know it sounds stupid, but I heard Barry's voice."

Jesse frowns. "I did too."

Wells looks at her, mind spinning. His words come out in a whisper. "What does that mean?"

"Wait, you heard him too?" Wally asks.

Henry pushes past Joe into the inner circle of the conversation. "You heard my son? How?"

"Not out loud," Wally says. "In my head. When I was running. He told me how to run up walls and grab a bullet out of the air."

Joe squints at Wally. "A _bullet_?"

Jesse hastily adds her part of the story. "Barry told me where to go a couple of times. At least, it sounded like him."

"And this was when you were running?" Wells is more optimistic than he has been in however long it's been. A day and a half?

The two new speedsters nod.

Wells breaks into a grin. "Then I know how to get him back."

* * *

Cisco walks home to his apartment. Harry told everyone to go away and leave him alone so he could think. Henry insisted on staying and helping, but the rest of them cleared out.

It's been a long couple of days. Cisco can't even remember the last time he slept. He feels like he's starting to see and hear things that aren't there, and not the vibing kind of visions.

Which is why, when Caitlin calls his name from a dark alley, he's not as surprised as he should be.

But then she steps out into the light, and he doesn't care if he's hallucinating. He wants to believe it.

"Caitlin?"

"Cisco," she repeats, throwing her arms around him. "It's so good to see you."

"You too!" Cisco says. "And your hands are freezing, Caitlin. You haven't gone all Killer Frost on me, have you?" He pulls away, grinning at her.

She smiles back, maybe a little hesitantly.

"Wait, how did you get away from Zoom? Where have you been?"

"It's a long story," she says.

"Okay, well, come in and tell me," Cisco invites, gesturing to his apartment.

Caitlin shakes her head and backs away a couple of steps. "I can't. If Jay shows up, he'll kill both of us." She reaches into her pocket. "Here."

She hands him a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it.

"What is this?"

"It's where I'm staying," Caitlin says. "Go there tomorrow morning. I'll be there. Tell everybody."

"Sure," Cisco agrees. Caitlin starts to walk away. "But wait, Caitlin, we think we have a way to bring Barry back."

She turns back immediately, hope lighting up her eyes. "You have a way to bring him back?"

"Maybe. Harry and Henry are working on it."

Caitlin grins. "That's wonderful, Cisco! Bring him, too. We need to stop Jay, and we're going to need all the help we can get."

"Definitely." Cisco has no idea how much she knows, whether she knows about Wally or Jesse or even Snart. But he has no time to tell her now—she's right, Zoom could show up at any moment.

He has no idea what to say—it hasn't even been that long since she's been gone. Just—

"Be careful, Caitlin."

She nods. "Don't worry, I will." Again, she starts to walk away. Over her shoulder, she adds, "I've got some mates that'll help me out."

Cisco watches her retreat into the shadows of the alley. He glances at the paper, shakes his head, and sticks it in his pocket.

As he enters his apartment, more enthusiastic than he's been in weeks, he's still not totally sure it wasn't a hallucination.


	8. Chapter 8

S.T.A.R. Labs is far more hopeful than it has been in days. Nobody knows if this hastily-made plan is actually going to work, but, if it does, they won't only get Barry back.

They can stop Zoom.

All of them but Snart (who insisted on standing guard in the Cortex) are gathered again in the breach room. This time, though, it seems less frantic and desperate than before. At this point, the worst has already happened.

"You're going to need to run. A lot," Wells says to Wally and Jesse. "If you've been hearing Allen's voice in your head guiding you, that means that he has some way of seeing what you two are doing. But it's only when you're interacting with the speed force. Therefore, _interact with the speed force_."

"So, you want us to just, like, talk to him?" Wally asks.

"No, you don't need to talk to him, you need to run, and we'll talk to him through you. Ramon?"

Cisco looks up.

"We'll need you to vibe him. See if you can pinpoint some sort of metaphysical location. We could bring him back without it, but it'll make it easier."

"A _metaphysical location?_ " Cisco repeats, starting to grin.

"Well, it won't be a physical one," Wells says, a note of irritation in his voice.

Cisco wonders how long it's been since Harry got any sleep. "Okay, sure, but out of all the possible words, you chose the one that's a pun. _Meta_ physical?"

"Just vibe him, Ramon."

"Sure." Cisco puts on the glasses, snickering.

"Jesse, Wally, start running around the room," Wells instructs.

They do.

Henry, who's had about the same amount of sleep as Wells, aka none, is the first to speak. "Barry, can you hear us?"

Cisco, Wally, and Jesse all hear the response.

 _Dad?_

A moment later, _You guys can hear me?_

Cisco repeats his words.

"We can hear you!" Henry replies. There's a giddy smile on his face, one that's mirrored on all of their expressions.

"Where are you, Barry?" Iris shouts.

 _I'm… I don't know. There's a lot of lightning. I can see Wally and Jesse running. I can… see the room. Dad. Joe. Iris. Wells. Cisco._

Wells nods, vindicated, when Cisco relays Barry's words. "He's in the speed force."

"He's in the speed force?" Joe questions.

 _I'm in the speed force?_ Barry repeats.

"Yes," Wells says. "Jesse, Wally, how long can you keep running?"

Jesse pauses for a moment to say, "I could go for hours." She grins and takes off again.

Wally stops and adds, "I don't want to ever stop running."

Cisco, acting on some instinctive impulse, reaches out as Wally starts running again and sticks his hand into the tail end of the lightning that follows him.

Immediately, he vibes. It's creepy—well, most of his vibes are creepy, but this one is especially so.

It's a hallway of some sort, one that curves away in both directions, seeming infinite. The walls, floor, ceiling, are all made of a flickering yellow. Cisco can't decide whether it looks like lightning or the dark matter from the accelerator explosion.

The accelerator—that explains the precise curve of the hallway. It's the particle accelerator, but constructed of this shimmery yellow energy.

"Barry?" Cisco shouts, and his voice echoes endlessly down the haunting hallway.

 _Cisco?_

Cisco looks behind him, where the sound seemed to come from, and then back to the front, where, suddenly, Barry's appeared. He jumps and grabs at his heart. "Jeez, Barry, don't do that."

Barry offers a smile that quickly vanishes, replaced by a concerned frown. _How are you here?_

"I'm vibing." Cisco watches Barry, who's not totally _there_ —he's fluctuating between his normal, Flash-suited form and a silhouette composed of the lightning-slash-dark matter that makes up the space around them. "How are _you_ here?"

 _I don't know._ In the middle of the sentence, Barry flickers again into yellow. _The last thing I remember was the lightning hitting me, and then I woke up here. Every so often, I get a couple glimpses of Wally and Jesse, who, by the way, are doing a great job at this whole speedster thing._

"Aren't they cool?" Cisco agrees.

Barry nods, grinning. _So, do you have a way to get me back?_

"Hey, man, you're the one who knows how to use the speed force." Cisco shakes his head. "I have no idea, but Harry's got some idea for how to bring you back."

Barry shrugs. _Okay, whatever gets me home and not like…_ He gestures down to himself as he flickers into the yellow lightning again. _This._

"Right. Well, I'm glad you're here, I'm gonna go, and we'll try to get you out of here."

 _Sure. Hopefully, I'll see you soon._

Everyone looks at Cisco when he reenters the real world and takes off the glasses.

"Did you see him?" Henry asks.

Cisco nods. "He's in this thing that looks like the particle accelerator, but it's made up of the dark matter- lightning-whatever that makes up the speed force. It's hard to explain and hella freaky."

"So, what is your plan, anyway?" Joe asks Wells.

"Jesse, Wally, stop for a moment," Wells says. "I know Barry won't be able to hear us, but I need to give you instructions."

They both skid to a stop and watch Wells with eager eyes.

Wells launches into an explanation, complete with wide gestures. "Allen, among all his other powers, can throw lightning. Now, the lightning isn't actually electricity—it's composed of the energy that makes up the speed force. So, therefore, since Allen is now a part of the speed force, the two of you need to corral as much of it as possible into one area. Then, Ramon, you need to act as a conduit."

"A conduit? For what?" Cisco frowns.

"Not a conduit. More like a radio transmitter. The speed force has a natural frequency. The real world has another. Your job is to bring Barry's frequency from speed force levels down to the real world," Wells explains, as though Cisco knows how to do any of that.

"Um… how?"

"You've got those powers. You've got those glasses. Use them."

Cisco squints at him. "Sure, Harry, but when I can't figure it out, you're gonna have to explain that a little better."

"You'll do it. I believe in you, Ramon."

"That might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Harry."

"Uh huh," Wells says distractedly. "Jesse, Wally, are you ready?"

"No," they say simultaneously.

"How are we supposed to do this, Dad?" Jesse asks.

"Yeah, what Jesse said. I don't know how to, what was it, throw lightning?" Wally adds.

Joe lets out a harsh laugh. "You know who taught Barry how to do it?"

Cisco and Wells look at each other. They know. Everyone else looks at Joe.

He delivers the sick punchline. "Jay."

"Of course it was," Henry mutters.

"Just start running and ask Barry," Cisco advises. "He'll tell you how to do it."

"Where are we aiming?" Wally asks.

Wells grins. "That's what Henry and I were working on all night." He gestures to the place where Barry stood for the second particle accelerator explosion. The restraint system has been replaced with a tall glass cylinder.

"The glass has been modified," Henry explains.

Wells nods. "It's a one-way energy containment system. The speed force lightning will be able to penetrate into the case, but not escape. If you do it repeatedly, enough of the speed force should collect within, and Ramon will be able to bring Allen back."

Jesse and Wally look at each other.

"Ready?" Wally asks, grinning at her.

She nods. "Ready."

They start running. Wally, when he falls into a regular pace around the room, asks aloud, "Barry, how do we throw lightning?"

 _That's what you're doing? All right,_ Barry's voice comes. _You feel the lightning around you? The sparks, the power, the energy? I hate using Jay's words, but let the energy pass over you, through your body, into your hands, and direct it where you want it to go._

Wally focuses. He _can_ feel the electricity crackling around him. He tries to direct it—

He's distracted when a burst of lightning, not from him, shoots into the glass case. Of course Jesse, the genius doctor's daughter, figured it out first. He redoubles his efforts.

He feels the energy collecting in his fingertips. Direct it, Barry said. Wally aims, and a pulsing, tingly sensation fleetingly darts through his arms and fingers.

Lightning shoots from his hands into the cylinder of glass.

Cool.

No time to slow down and admire his achievement, though. He has to do it again and again. Fill the case with speed force. The Flash saved him.

Time to return the favor.

Cisco, meanwhile, tries not to get distracted by the awesome sight of Wally and Jesse throwing lightning into the case. He has a job to do. One he has no idea how to complete.

He half wishes Hartley were here. He'd understand frequencies.

Cisco again sticks out a hand to the lightning flashing behind the two speedsters and closes his eyes. When he falls into his speed force vibe, he doesn't look for Barry. Instead, he tries to somehow sense the frequency.

There's a buzzing in his ears. There always is when he vibes.

This time, he listens.

Not a constant buzzing. There's a rhythm to it. _Duhduhduh dah dah duhduh dah. Duhduhduh dah dah duhduh dah_.

Pulling out of the vibe back to reality, still wearing the glasses, Cisco _listens_.

 _Duh duhduh dah. Duh duhduh dah. Duh duhduh dah._

Not quite a frequency, but a beat. The heartbeat of the universe.

Weird.

He takes a break from deciphering the secrets of the cosmos to see how the lightning collection is going. There's a lot of it zapping around the case. Cisco has no idea how much is necessary. He sneaks a glance at Harry, who's watching it fill up, and figures that even he has no clue.

There's only one person they've ever met who actually understood the speed force—a speedster from the future. Also, the guy who betrayed them all, murdered Barry's mom along with dozens of innocent people, and was responsible for Eddie's and Ronnie's deaths.

Yeah, Eobard Thawne might have known how to bring Barry back. But Cisco's certain that everyone in the room is glad he's not here.

When the entire cylinder is filled, top to bottom, with brilliant yellow lightning, Harry yells, "Now, Cisco!"

Cisco hurries down to the outside of the cylinder. Wally and Jesse continue to run their circles around the room, making Cisco feel like the center of a firenado. He places his hands on the glass and closes his eyes.

The rhythm of the speed force fills his head again. _Duhduhduh dah dah duhduh dah_.

"Change it," Cisco mutters to himself. He's terrified, but he holds tight to the feeling of the real world beat ( _duh duhduh dah_ ) and tries to push that rhythm into the case.

He opens one eye hopefully.

The lightning inside the case freezes in place, and for one shining moment Barry's silhouette is visible within it.

Everyone pauses, breathless, hopeful. Even Wally and Jesse stop running to see what happens.

Then Cisco feels more than hears the speed force beat resume inside the case. The lightning resumes its frantic crackle, and Barry's image vanishes.

Their optimism shatters.

Cisco is about to back away from the cylinder, admit defeat.

Then Iris steps up next to him. "Cisco, try again. Keep running, Wally, Jesse. I need Barry to hear this."

The speedsters resume their rapid circuits of the room, Cisco focuses, and Iris talks.

"Barry, I know you can hear me, wherever you are. You need to break through the confines of that place. Focus on what ties you to this world. Remember everything you have here, and fight for it."

She takes a breath, and Cisco can feel the rhythm within the cylinder shifting, changing more gradually than the last time. It's mostly due to his artificial adjustments, but there's another factor contributing, slowing the forcible change to a more natural evolution.

It's like he's pulling Barry into this world.

And Barry is pushing away from the other.

Iris continues. "You have so many people to come home to, Barry. Come home to us."

 _Duh duhduh dah_ reverberates from the inside of the cylinder.

"Come home to me."

Cisco opens his eyes and steps away.

The lightning swirls downward like water through a drain. It coalesces into a single familiar shape.

Barry.

The only lightning left is the kind that flashes behind Barry when he runs a trial lap around the inside of the cylinder.

He stops facing the rest of them and grins.

Everyone else grins back.

Barry's back.

Even better, the Flash is back, suit and all.

Iris puts her hand against the case. Barry mirrors her action. Then his ecstatic grin falters.

"Hold on, how do I get out of this thing?"

* * *

There's a long series of reunions, as well as more tears than anyone would like to admit, when Barry gets out of the cylinder (a feat that takes a sledgehammer and a running start from Wally).

First is Iris, as she's the closest to him. They equally pull each other into a long hug.

"It's so good to see you, Barry," she whispers.

"I missed you," he replies.

Next is Henry, who's come down to embrace his son. "I'm sorry I let Wells do this to you."

"I'm not," Barry says to him. "I love you, Dad, but I needed my speed back."

When he pulls away, he's immediately drawn into another hug by Joe.

Joe doesn't say anything at first, just hugs him fiercely.

"Don't do that again," he says finally.

"Next time I dissolve into pure speed force, I'll let you know first." Barry laughs, his eyes shining with unshed tears.

He turns next to Cisco, who's backed away slightly to let Barry have his reunions.

"Glad you're back, Barry," Cisco says, messing with the glasses in his hands.

"Aw, come here, Cisco." Barry pulls him into a hug too. "Good job bringing me back."

"Couldn't have done it without your help, bro."

Barry pulls away, grinning, and starts toward Wells. "Come on, Wells, you need a hug too."

"I think I'm okay, Allen. I'm the reason you were in this position in the first place."

"Hey, it technically worked, and you got me back." Barry flashes to Wells's side and holds out his arms.

Reluctantly, clearly uncomfortable, Wells wraps an arm around Barry, who reciprocates with much more emotion.

"Thank you," Barry says genuinely.

It's probably the fact that they're on another Earth. Wells _has_ to be allergic to something in the room. There's no other reason that his eyes would be so damp.

"You shouldn't be thanking me," he says gruffly and gently pushes Barry away.

"I am anyway." Barry gives him a final grin and then turns to Wally and Jesse. "I see I've got some competition!"

"Hey, man, you'll always be the Flash to me," Wally says, holding up his hands. "I might be a speedster, but you won't get anything resembling competition from me."

"Me either," Jesse says. "I'm just glad you're back. You can help train us. Cisco did an okay job, but I'm sure you'll be an expert."

"Hey!" Cisco protests. "I trained Barry!"

"The other Wells trained Barry," Joe points out. "You just helped."

"All right, all right," Barry says. "No worries. Let's go back to the Cortex. It's been too long."

He's gone without another word.

"You think we should have told him about Captain Cold?" Joe asks.

Upstairs, Barry skids to a stop in the center of the Cortex. "Snart?"

"Barry Allen." Snart gives him half a grin. "I heard you were dead."

"I'm back. I heard _you_ had a job."

"I'm back too. I get some vacation time."

"Glad you chose to spend it here." Barry offers his hand. Snart shakes it. "Thanks for helping out in my… absence."

"Sure thing, Flash," Snart says as the others join them in the Cortex.

"So, do we have a plan for stopping Zoom?" Barry asks.

The lack of a response makes the answer clear.

"Okay. What about finding Caitlin?"

"Actually…" Cisco pulls a half sheet of paper from his pocket. "Forgot to mention that she stopped by my apartment last night."

"You forgot to mention that, Ramon?" Wells asks.

"Hey. We were saving Barry. That took priority. She's safe." A frown flickers across Cisco's face. "I hope. Anyway, she's at this address. Now that we've got all three Flashes, we can bring the whole team. And…"

He runs into his workroom and comes out with three suits: the standard Flash red for Barry, a darker maroon for Jesse, silver for Wally.

"I've got new outfits."

"When did you have time to make those?" Henry asks.

Cisco is clearly trying not to look _too_ proud of himself. "I work fast."

Within moments, all three speedsters are changed into their outfits. The contrast of colors is stunning. Cisco does good work.

"Let's go find Caitlin." Barry grins.

Because there are nine of them and only three speedsters, the other six—Cisco, Wells, Joe, Iris, Henry, and Snart—take one of the S.T.A.R. Labs vans.

"Wanna race?" Jesse asks her dad, who's driving.

He smirks at her. "It wouldn't be good for the other drivers in the city."

"Yeah, I'm still a cop," Joe inserts. "I wouldn't want to give a speeding ticket to the driver of the car I'm in."

"Okay. See you there." Jesse shrugs and turns away, joining Barry and Wally.

"Ready?" Barry asks.

"Hey, we've been running around protecting the city while you've been relaxing in your speed force retreat," Jesse says. "Are _you_ ready, Flash?"

Barry smirks. "Don't forget who was giving you advice… hey, Cisco needs to give the two of you names. Remind me to talk to him about that after we defeat Zoom."

"I'm still getting over the fact that you're the Flash," Wally says.

"I still can't believe you've got speed too," Barry replies.

"Do _you_ guys want to race?" Jesse asks.

"We should take it slow," Barry says. "We can't run into Zoom and lead him to this hideout of Caitlin's."

"Fine," Jesse says with a good-natured roll of her eyes. "Let's go."

Three speedsters flash across the city, headed toward the bad part of town.

* * *

They linger in the alley until the van pulls up. When it does, all nine of them walk into the bar together.

It's ten in the morning, so the bar's closed, but the door's unlocked anyway.

Around twenty people stand up at their arrival, turning to face the newcomers.

Caitlin hurries over and throws her arms around Barry first before even giving a glance to the other speedsters. "Wait…"

Barry laughs and then notices her outfit. It's a pale blue, and her skin is so pale white…

"I don't think I'm the only one who has news." He disguises his voice on instinct and glances around the bar. "Who are all of these people? And… have you become Killer Frost?"

The others in the bar groan at the name. Caitlin winces. Cisco looks at Caitlin, shocked. "You didn't tell me—!"

"Not Killer Frost, please," Caitlin says. "Fay says that sounds too threatening." She holds up a hand and wiggles her fingers in a sort of wave. Bits of ice fall from her fingertips to the floor, landing with little _tinks_.

One of the women, presumably Fay, approaches Caitlin and the S.T.A.R. Labs team. She picks up one of Caitlin's shards of ice. " _Crystal_ Frost is a much better name." She holds up the ice, which sparkles in the light. Like a crystal.

"First of all, I like the name. Second, please answer literally all the questions," Cisco begs. "How did you get your powers? How did you escape Zoom? Again, who are these people?"

"I've got this," one of the men says, raising his hand slightly in greeting. "I'm Rosco Dillon. You can call me Top if you'd like. I'm the leader of this group." He looks at the three costumed Flashes one at a time, stopping at Barry. "And you're the Flash?"

"I would say the one and only, but, well…" Barry gestures to the other two.

"Rosco started this group," Caitlin explains. "They call themselves M.A.T.E."

"The Metahuman Anti-Terror Ensemble," Fay translates.

"We've been trying to stay out of your way, Flash. But then Zoom took over," Rosco says. "He tried to recruit one of us, who died rather than join him. I urged the others just to listen to him, and so he's recruited three more."

The Mates generally look away, thinking about their friends.

"Two of them, Lizzie and Richard, helped me escape," Caitlin says. "Albert was taken last night. They've all been helping me learn to use my powers."

"I'm a little jealous, Snow," Snart says. He hefts his weapon. "I have to use my gun."

She laughs, a little nervously. "I didn't know you were on our team."

"Thought I'd help out. Tried to rescue you. You were already gone."

Wells edges over to Barry. "All of these metas are criminals on my Earth. The Top. Spellbinder. Magenta. The Eel."

"I think they're different here," Barry whispers back. He raises his voice to address the Mates. "Do any of you have a plan to defeat Zoom?"

"Without a speedster, it would be impossible," Rosco says. " _With_ a speedster, especially three of them? We've got a chance."

For the second time that day, everyone feels genuinely optimistic.

"Let's make a plan," Barry says.

* * *

 _A/N: One more chapter that's going up tonight, sometime between 5 and 7 pm Central Time. Thanks for the reviews, and please leave one if you like how it's going!_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: This ending is maybe a little rough, but I'm fairly proud of it. Not as cool as the show probably, but we'll see in about 45 minutes. Enjoy!_

* * *

The plan starts with a camera.

Specifically, Iris's TV news friend's camera. Because Barry needs to go big.

It's that evening when they do it. In the interim, the Mates and the S.T.A.R. Labs team make their preparations.

Everything's set up perfectly when Barry, voice disguised and face blurred, nods to Erica. She turns on the camera.

"Central City!"

Though he can't see any of them, Barry imagines that all over the city people cease what they're doing to look at the nearest television screen. Maybe they murmur to each other, "The Flash is back!"

"You've heard a lot of rumors about me in the past week. That I'm gone. Maybe that I'm dead."

Through his vibrating features, Barry smiles. "I've been in some trouble, but I want to reassure you: the Flash is very much alive. Not only that, but I have some allies, who you might have seen running around the city in maroon and silver."

He's certain Zoom is on his way, so Barry finishes fast.

"And Zoom?" He grins. "We're coming for you."

Barry zips offscreen and shuts off the camera. "Hide, quickly," he urges Erica. Zoom will probably go to S.T.A.R. Labs, but Barry doesn't want anyone else to get killed.

And then Barry's off, back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

It's time to defeat Zoom, once and for all.

* * *

Jay watches Barry's announcement on the precinct screens. _How_ is he alive?

He grits his teeth and resists the urge to kill all the metas around him. He's recruited a total of ten now, not counting the two who died. Should be enough to stop the Flash.

"We're going to S.T.A.R. Labs," he growls at them. "If any of you let one of those three Flashes slip by, you're all going to pay the price."

He's gone. The Mates, all of them that could end up in Zoom's path in the few short hours they had to get recruited, look at each other, nervous.

"Let's do this," Rosco says. He starts spinning, soon resembling a tornado, and tears up the precinct floor as he leaves.

The others follow, using their powers to speed their way. Yes, they're all going to S.T.A.R. Labs.

But they're only planning on stopping one speedster today.

* * *

Wells despises this plan. Totally and completely.

It's not that he doesn't think it'll work—it's better than anything else they've come up with. The combined powers of three speedsters, ten Mates, Snart, Ramon, and Snow will undoubtedly be more than enough to stop Zoom.

No, he hates that he, along with the other non-metas, will be confined to the time vault for the duration of the process.

Which means Jesse will be on her own.

Well, for some value of 'on her own' that includes fifteen other people. But he can't help her.

That fact, combined with the fifty-some hours since he last slept, makes him unbearably irritable. He can't seem to stop spewing sarcasm at the others in the time vault with him. Joe, Iris, and Henry look increasingly annoyed.

"Stop it," Iris finally demands. "Zoom hasn't even shown up yet, and you've already made me want to kill you more than him."

"I've got my gun, I should be out there." Wells lifts said gun and continues to stalk back and forth along the length of the time vault.

Joe shakes his head. "We put Wally and Jesse in here because we didn't want Zoom using them against us. Right now, as much as I hate Wally and Barry being out there, we're the ones Zoom could use. We can't take that risk."

"I know, I know." Wells finally sits down on one of the crates lining the room. "If we don't hear anything within an hour, though, I'm definitely going to be using this gun."

"If we don't hear anything within an hour, I'll encourage that," Henry says. He's just as anxious as Wells and has had about the same amount of sleep, but keeps much more quiet than the other man.

Cisco's voice suddenly intrudes over the intercom system. "He's on his way."

The time vault falls silent. They wait, and hope the next voice they hear through the system won't be Zoom's.

* * *

Jay bursts through the doors of S.T.A.R. Labs and heads immediately for the Cortex. He doesn't care who he sees first—they're going to die.

As he reaches the entrance to the Cortex, though, ice suddenly bursts out to block the door. The coating is solid and thick enough that, when Zoom bursts through it, it sends him crashing to the floor.

It takes him a moment to get to his feet, not in the least because he hopes the ice might have come from Caitlin, but then he's headed straight for where it originated and it's not her, it's that Captain Cold, and Jay is _so ready_ to kill him.

A streak of red and lightning intervenes. Not Barry—it's that shorter one, who's got a new, darker red suit. With the redesign, Jay realizes she's a girl. _Who?_

Whoever she is, she flies at him. Zoom superspeed-steps out of the way, still intent on killing Cold.

His momentary distraction was enough time for the man to fire again, though, and a glacial amount of ice piles up on Zoom's chest.

The girl Flash circles around and knocks Zoom to the floor, then gets Captain Cold out of the room. Zoom gets to his feet and races after them, rubbing his hands over the ice to melt it.

As he chases them down the hallway, another blurred speedster, this one in silver and _still not Barry,_ comes the other way. Zoom prepares to push right past him, but the Silver Speedster pulls the trigger of some weapon and then runs.

It's the boot, that stupid cuff that disabled his speed earlier. Jay smirks. The idiots at S.T.A.R. Labs didn't think that he'd figured out how to circumvent it. His imprisonment lasts for all of one moment before he uses the electricity of the speed force to short out the circuitry and he's free.

He races to the end of the hallway and glances in both directions. Which way did they go?

Doesn't matter. One way or the other will work.

He chooses right and only makes it a few steps down the curving hallway before he has to stop, startled and confused.

Two of his metas. He struggles to recall their names. Blacksmith and Magenta.

Their presence would be fine, but for their posture when they see him.

Their arms are crossed. Expressions fierce.

He's about to ask them what they're doing, but he only gets half a syllable out before the metal of the floor shoots upward, forming a wall in between them.

Zoom growls under his breath. They've betrayed him. Trying to block him, give the Flash—Flash _es_ —enough time to escape.

He starts toward the wall, intending to phase through and kill them both, but finds himself unable to even reach the wall.

Magenta. Some sort of magnetic repulsion.

No time to waste. If he can't kill them now, he will later. First, the Flash.

He spins and runs, wishing he'd spent more time getting acquainted with the floor plans of S.T.A.R. Labs. There's nobody left on this floor. Down or up?

Up, though there's only the roof left. It feels more appropriate, some sort of confrontation on the top of the city.

But when he gets up there, despite knowing perfectly well that the sun hasn't set yet, all he sees is darkness. No lights from the city, no stars, nothing but pure black.

A blast of some thin, air pressure-like force hits him, shoving him bodily back down the stairs.

One of Starfinger's five powers. And the darkness had to have been Shade. Two more of his metas.

It's not just the two metal girls.

They've all betrayed him.

Jay realizes how easy it was to find and recruit all these metas. They must have been planning this from the beginning. They must have been working with the Flash.

It's impossible for him to fight those two, though. On the roof, in the dark, Zoom could easily run off the edge of the building without realizing.

Back down the stairs, then. There are still six more of his metas that he hasn't seen. If they're working in pairs, it should be an easy process. Kill one, drag the other back to the Cortex, use the intercom to threaten death if the speedsters don't surrender.

Zoom's suddenly disoriented, and skids to a stop in the middle of the hallway. He doesn't need to be on this floor. He doesn't know how he knows it, but he does.

A speedster runs past him, not interacting with him at all but heading down the stairs. Zoom follows, and the speedster vanishes at the bottom of the flight.

An illusion. Spellbinder. And the distraction—Psierra.

They're herding him.

A huge empty building with _his_ metas scattered throughout, none of them directly fighting him, all of them driving him to—

Where?

He doesn't want to play.

So when he sees Folded Man and Eel at the end of a hallway, he doesn't stop and turn around.

He runs straight at them.

The Folded Man immediately flattens himself into two dimensions, and Zoom has to reroute quickly to avoid slicing himself on the razor-keen edge of the meta. Instead, he turns toward Eel, whose only power is unbelievably slippery skin.

Eel drops, surprisingly quick, to the floor, sliding underneath him. Jay spins and is about to kill him, no need to gain hold, he just has to phase a hand through his chest, and then a pulse of who-knows-what tears through him, vibrating his bones inside his body and throwing him backwards onto the floor.

It's Cisco, wearing the Reverb glasses and holding out a palm in his direction.

Zoom gets to his feet and is ready to slaughter them all, starting with Cisco.

Another blast of air hits him from behind, Top, spinning fast enough to create a vortex that drags Zoom inevitably backwards.

Top ceases his spin and the change of air pressure throws Jay twenty feet backwards. Before he can get to his feet, the air above him coalesces into iron, courtesy of Dr. Alchemy, he's sure. The block drops on his chest, knocking his breath from his lungs and giving the five metas enough time to run off.

Jay throws the weights off and starts after the traitorous metas—

But then the two speedsters run by in the opposite direction, past Zoom, and the wind from their passing proves they're not a Spellbinder illusion, and Zoom remembers he has higher priorities than revenge.

He wants all these Flashes' speed.

So he follows. If they're herding him, it doesn't matter. He follows them.

Into the basement of S.T.A.R. Labs.

It's a room he hasn't seen before. A huge, raised pedestal is the center of the room, commanding all the attention.

The two non-Barry speedsters split, one going to the left of it, one going to the right, and stop on either side of the final Flash.

The real one.

Barry.

Standing directly across from the entrance to the room. Not running. Not fighting. Standing.

Jay races toward him, not caring about the pedestal, going straight across it.

And he bounces back.

Some sort of containment system. Now that he's hit the edge of it, the sphere shimmers into visibility, a bubble encasing him within the confines of the pedestal.

Zoom lets out an inhuman roar. He's. So. Close. Barry is _right there_ , alive again _somehow_ , two other speedsters with him, and _he's too close to give up now._

He pounds against the invisible barrier. Harder. And harder.

It fractures. Cracks. And he's ready to give the final blow when—

"Jay."

The voice comes from behind him. It's soft, it's hesitant, and it's heartbreakingly familiar.

He turns. "Cait?"

She waves at him and smiles. Behind his mask, Jay's expression sours. Everyone else has betrayed him today. She's on the Flash's side. Always has been.

But he's hesitated for too long already.

Caitlin raises her hands.

And a huge blast of ice spirals out of her hands at him.

He doesn't move in time.

And everything goes a very blueish shade of black.

* * *

It's over.

The Mates and Flashes and assorted others collect again in the Cortex. Stunned. Proud. Victorious.

Hugs are exchanged. Congratulations disbursed. High-fives and grins and fist-pumps, and, from Barry to Iris, a very intense kiss.

It's over.

Barry's back. Speed reinstated. Breaches closed. Caitlin rescued. New speedsters trained. Metas allied. Loose ends tied.

Zoom defeated.

City safe.

Rupture healed.


End file.
